+1. The most pressure he ever faced in his football career and he performed admirably. Those three games are definitely something to build off of. As I said in another thread, I love that the coaches keep saying that they cannot chase him out of the Florham Park complex.
Exactly. As far as I'm concerned, he's right on schedule to becoming a great quarterback. Rookie year gains him some experience, even some playoff experience, which is a bonus. But I'm still concerned about the backup quarterback. I know a lot of teams don't have great backups, but I have zero faith in anyone we have right now winning us more than one playoff game. If the changes at offensive line and runningback work out, there's no reason that in year two for Sanchez and year two for the defense getting used to Rex's system that we can't be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Quarterback is the determining factor. If Sanchez plays like he did last year during the regular season, it would be impossible to win three or four consecutive games against top notch opposition. If Sanchez takes a step forward to being an average quarterback who can manage the game, not turn the ball over, and let Holmes, Edwards, Cotchery, and Keller make enough big plays to win, we can be a Super Bowl contender. But if he were to go down, I fear 1999 all over again. There are significant differences though: we needed Vinny to win that year, and we don't need an elite quarterback to win this year. We do need a decent QB though. And I don't know if we have even that.
I can't think of any teams in the NFL that could lose their starter and still make the playoffs. Maybe Tennessee, if they still have Collins, but then again they missed out last year when Collins collapsed even with Vince Young playing well behind him. The Colts would go 8-8 without Peyton Manning.
As shown in the Chargers playoff game, we can go 3 and out several times in a row, and still be in the game. JUST DON'T TURN IT OVER.
A good % of Sanchez's struggles last season occurred in freezing cold games.. hopefully he got that out of his system and knows how to respond to the temperatures playing in the north east.
not really. How about January in Cincy? Where he posted a near perfect QB rating... because QB rating is like the ultimate end all be all to judge QBs OMG!!!!111 He did good and bad in the cold weather, so its a wash. He struggled because he was a rookie.
When it comes to a backup QB, I'd like someone who can hold the fort down if Sanchez is out for more than 1 week. give me a guy who can at least keep the Jets competitive and the offense somewhat capable while Mark is healing up, if this horrible situation ever arises. Its rare a Hostetler is sitting around. So give me a guy who can go 2-2 or even 3-1 if Sanchez is out a month. The defense will be a big factor to protecting the backup as well
Meh, Hostetler won the Super Bowl. Todd Collins did okay for Washington a few years ago. Kurt Warner and Tom Brady came out of nowhere. Even Ray Lucas was good. The Jets are the perfect type of team to have a caretaker backup quarterback come in and get the job done because of our style of play and the talent on our roster. But I don't know if we even have that. Granted, I've barely seen O'Connell or Ainge, so maybe the FO likes something there, but I doubt it.
I'm still big on a veteran guy. Bubba Franks said that you can't put a price on knowledge when around younger guys at the same position. The same thing for Sanchez. I'm not looking for the "mentor" QB, but I am looking for the guy just to share war stories. You can't put a price on knowledge in the NFL.
just one thing about the differences with '99... that season really was a now or never season, losing Vinny was huge because of that. Now the team is young enough to think that this team will be a contender for at least a couple of years
I think that was probably the worst game that Schottenheimer called all season. There was no rhyme, reason or rhythm to most of the calls, and many of them were so half-assed tricky that you knew they were going to fail the moment the ball was snapped. That was the moment I almost gave up completely on Schotty. He redeemed himself in the latter portion of the season and the playoffs, but you have to wonder how much of that was directly due to the influence of Rex. I wish I could say that he proved himself in that latter portion of 2009, but I think the jury is still deliberating. But I'll tell you one thing - he no longer has the excuse of 'not enough weapons for his system.'
When Sanchez had a bad game, it was brutally bad...just like every rookie QB ever. No doubt, he single-handedly lost games. His playoff performances are what has all of our hopes up.
I just had a "wow, we were beating the colts in the AFC Championship at half time and lost) moment. Thanks for the reminder.
If Peyton went down, I think the Colts are far from a .500 team. They would be lucky to finished 7-9. Sanchez does all the right things and has all the intangibles to become a great QB in this league. The fact that the coaches rave about him being at the facilities 24/7 just shows that this guy gets what it takes to be a successful QB in the NFL. With that said though, despite how strong we are at across the board, QB play will determine how successful we are in the long run.
I was and still am concerned with his accuracy. Even in the playoffs, where he excelled, he only touched 57 percent. He needs to make an Eli Manning like improvement and get over his turnovers to be an asset, rather than a detriment. -X-
QBs usually have bad accuracy in their 1st season and it jumps on their 2nd. Let's not go crazy with accuracy. There were dropped/tipped balls by Braylon and Keller last season. The kid was a rookie with 16 starts in college.
